The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

OVERVIEW

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special follows the Guardians, who are on a quest to make Quill’s Christmas spectacular. They travel to Earth in search of the ideal present. Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, and Pom Klementieff feature in the Marvel Studios Special Presentation, which also includes Vin Diesel as Groot and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, as well as Sean Gunn and The Old 97’s with Michael Rooker and Kevin Bacon.

Marvel’s Phase Three ended with one of the biggest films of all time, and in a move that sort of represents the scattershot quality of Phase Four, the illustrious studio has chosen to conclude it with a 42-minute streaming spinoff that serves as a glorified DVD bonus feature at best, and at worst, the most arrogant flex against Martin Scorsese that the MCU could have ever thought of.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which was first conceived by filmmaker James Gunn some years ago, was recorded under evident COVID constraints only in 2021.

as the director was finishing the third and final instalment of the GoTG trilogy. Gunn has made some striking comparisons between the Guardians special and the notorious Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978, which remains one of the most infamous pop-culture artefacts ever created, even after all these years.

The Star Wars Holiday Special was so derided on its first airing that it was never repeated, nor was it ever put on home video. The only copies that survive are bootlegs recorded by entrepreneurial spectators during the show’s one and only transmission and afterwards posted to the internet.

But Gunn’s tribute is more than just a nod to Chewbacca; he’s gone so far as to bookend the Guardians special with animated sequences aiming to imitate comparable scenes in its Star Wars version. Of course, the filmmaker’s enthusiasm for the Star Wars special is likely not limited to the surface features; there’s likely a lot of nostalgia at work here. As a youngster, it must have just been a fresh Star Wars narrative to enjoy over the holidays, rather than anything to be upset about for disrespecting the original. Despite the unfortunate overlaps, Gunn’s film does not undercut the main stream and does not smack like a cash grab. On the contrary, it’s a lovely diversion from the MCU’s greater intrigues.

The film stars Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Rocket as well as Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) (Bradley Cooper). After Kraglin (Sean Gunn) tells the Guardians about Yondu (Michael Rooker) ‘destroying Christmas’ when Peter was a child, Mantis and Drax resolve to make things right by giving Peter a Christmas present that would hopefully restore his memories of the holiday.

Their next journey brings them to Earth, where they are tasked with finding Peter’s favourite movie star, Kevin Bacon, abducting him, and bringing him back to the planet Nowhere for Peter’s entertainment. This is the kind of good-natured but haphazard storyline that Gunn has proven so skilled at putting together, combining the Guardians’ well-meaning disposition with their innate lawless impulses.
The Earthbound scenes may feel a bit too simple — like they were shot in an afternoon on an iPhone — but Drax and Mantis have enough odd-couple chemistry to support a 20-minute stretch by themselves as they walk about Beverly Hills hunting for Bacon.The Guardians special is filled with popular Christmas-themed needle-drops and opens and closes with musical performances by the Old 97s. The tone is upbeat, and a few of spoilery moments at the end are very moving, especially if you’ve been following these people for over a decade.

Almost every project that Marvel puts together has a distinct odour of corporate influence. Even filmmaker Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was compelled to set the framework for a future figure in order to convey its narrative. Regardless, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special lives primarily in a vacuum. It’s amazing how much mainstream Hollywood’s storytelling tastes have altered since the MCU took hold. The background work that would have been consigned to the appendices is now happening in the main films, while character-driven storylines are pushed to the margins. Oh well.